When people think of museums and colleges, they think of creativity and innovation. This is exactly the case when it comes to the St. Petersburg College Downtown Center.
A project, which involved a college seeking growth in the downtown area and a museum looking for a more sustainable home in an era when funding and space is limited.

In a partnership with the city, St. Petersburg College was able to acquire an existing two deck, parking garage that use to service a former department store which was only partially being used by the Florida International Museum. The three parties came to an agreement where the college would utilize the parking garage and provide a home for the museum while the city would redevelop the former department store.

The solution developed for the College was to reuse and reinvent the existing parking garage and add two more floors above to create a four-story 128,000 sq ft facility. In the initial phase the total structure was built out and the 32,000 sq ft first floor was finished to allow the college to have its classrooms and for the museum to move into its new more efficient gallery space. Soon thereafter, the second floor was finished to include room for additional offices, classrooms, community rooms and a student lounge with wireless Internet, vending facilities, large screen plasma TVs and comfortable areas for group gathering.  The lounge receives natural light through a rooftop skylight over a three-story atrium, which was partially created by the removal of the ramp in the center of the existing parking garage.

The facility is accessed by convenient, adjacent parking and this prominent downtown location provides working students with quality education at walking distance from art/historic museums, the Mirror Lake Library and the downtown business district.

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